Dorothy Payne Todd. Courtesy of Miss Lucia B. Cutts.

Dorothy Payne, Quakeress
A Side-Light upon the Career
of "  Dolly"   Madison

By Ella Kent Barnard

Philadelphia:

FERRIS & LEACH

29 SOUTH SEVENTH ST.

1909

Dedicated to
Annie Matthews Kent

[7]

FOREWORD

There is little time in this busy world of ours for reading,—little, indeed, for thinking;—and there are already many books; but perhaps these few additional pages relating to Dolly Madison, who was loved and honored during so many years by our people, may be not altogether amiss. During eleven administrations she was the intimate friend of our presidents and their families. What a rare privilege was hers—to be at home in the families of Washington, of Jefferson, of Madison, of Monroe; to know intimately Hamilton and Burr and Clay and Webster; to live so close, during her long life, to the heart of our nation; to be swayed by each pulsation of our national life;—to be indeed a part and parcel of it all, loved, honored and revered!

It seems almost incredible that the simple country maiden, reared in [8]strict seclusion, by conscientious Quaker parents, should have been transformed into the queen of social life, at whose shrine the wise men of their day did homage, and at whose feet the warriors laid the flag of victory.

She has left small record of her thoughts; none of her creed, excepting in her life,—and that was pure and good. The outward symbols of her faith were laid aside, but in her daily life we see the leading of the "Inner Light."

We have searched amongst the driftwood of the century for traces of her early life, and found many records, letters and references, published and unpublished, and from them all our story has been woven.

The Friends' records of North Carolina, of Virginia and of Philadelphia have given us very accurate and definite information relating to her family, and the old letters, the cherished treasures of many homes, have [9]given a glimpse of Dolly herself in earlier and later days;—of her Quaker girlhood in Philadelphia and of her marriage in the old Pine street meeting-house. And then of days in Washington,—brilliant days, in the full glare of sunshine; and finally a picture when the days were far spent and the evening shadows falling.

For much of this material I am greatly indebted to many persons, and especially to the following I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for assistance so kindly given: George J. Scattergood, Philadelphia; Edward Stabler, Jr., Baltimore; Eliza Pleasants, Lincoln, Va.; Maud Wilder Goodwin, New York City; Priscilla B. Hackney, North Carolina; Rosewell Page, Richmond, Va.; Lavinia Taylor, Hanover County, Va.; Lucia B. Cutts, Boston, Mass.; L. D. Winston, Winston, Va.; Christine M. Washington, Charlestown, W. Va.; George S. Washington, Philadelphia; [10]Eugenia W. M. Brown, Washington, D. C.; Julia E. Daggett, Washington, D. C.; Lucy T. Fitzhugh, Westminster, Md.; Margaret Crenshaw, Richmond, Va.; Charles G. Thomas, Baltimore, Md.; Mrs. Moorfield Story, Boston, Mass.; Julia S. White, North Carolina; Thomas Nelson Page, Washington, D. C.; Richard L. Bentley, Baltimore; Thomas F. Taylor, Hanover, Va.; Mary W. Slaughter, Winston, Va.; Liza Madison Sheppard, Virginia; Samuel M. Brosius, Washington, D. C.; Elizabeth McKean, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. William DuPont, Montpelier, Va., and Norman Penney, London, England.

Ella Kent Barnard.

Baltimore, November 15, 1909.

[11]

CONTENTS

[12]

[13]

ILLUSTRATIONS

From a Miniature on ivory, now in possession of Mrs. Richard D. Cutts.

From an old drawing.

From a painting by Sully in the State Library, Richmond, Va.

From a painting at Brandon.

From a photograph.

From a photograph.

From a photograph.

From a photograph.

Drawn after a photograph.

From a photograph.

Wherein James and Dolly Madison were married.
From a photograph.

From the portraits by Gilbert Stuart, owned by The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

From a painting at Harewood.

From a photograph.

From a photograph.

From a photograph.

After drawing by Harry Fenn.

From a Water-Color by Mary Estelle Cutts, now in possession of Miss Lucia B. Cutts.

From a photograph.

From a photograph.

From a photograph.

Drawn by Ella K. Barnard

Drawn by Ella K. Barnard

[16]

[17]

CHAPTER I.

Early Years and Scenes.

The girlhood of Dorothy Payne was spent on a plantation in Hanover county, Virginia. Very quiet and uneventful were the years whose "days were full of happiness," the quiet happiness of country life. For fifteen years

where the distant echoes of the busy world, or even the great Revolutionary struggles that encompassed them round about, scarce caused a ripple on the calm surface of their daily life.

She was born, however, in North Carolina, that happy region where "every one does what seems best in his own eyes," or, better still, enjoys, as did Colonel Byrd, "the Carolina felicity of hav[18]ing nothing to do!" A rough people many of them still were, without doubt, when the little Dolly was born in their midst, on a plantation in Guilford county, to take charge of which her father had come a few years before from his Virginia home to where a thrifty, God-fearing colony of Quaker emigrants from New Garden, Pennsylvania, had peopled the wilderness, and in memory of the Pennsylvania home had erected a new "New Garden Meeting House" in a forest clearing. Very commodious it looked in comparison with the log cabins from which its congregation gathered to "mid-week" and "First-day Meeting," coming usually in the covered emigrant wagon that was ofttimes their only means of conveyance, but which well suited the size of the emigrant family.

Friends' Meeting House, New Garden, North Carolina. From an old Drawing.

Turning over their earliest book of records, still distinct but yellowed by age, the curious visitor may find a page on which is inscribed the following:

John Payne was born y^e 9 of y^e 12 m^o 1740.

Mary, his wife, was born y^e 14 of y^e 10 m^o 1743.

Walter, their son, was born y^e 15 of y^e 11 m^o 1762.

[19]

Wm. Temple, their son, was born y^e 17 of y^e 6 m^o 1766.

Dolley, their daughter, was born y^e 20 of y^e 5 m^o 1768.

"Dolley," their little daughter, was named for her mother's friend, Dorothea Spotswood Dandridge, the granddaughter of Governor Spotswood, the daughter of Nathaniel West Dandridge, a near relative of Lord Delaware. Nathaniel West Dandridge, son-in-law of Governor Spotswood, had been one of his followers on a far-famed journey of exploration, led by the Governor, beyond the Appalachian mountains, and for this exploit had been dubbed a "Knight of the Golden Horseshoe," and presented with the symbol of the order, a golden horseshoe with its glittering jewels, and the inscribed motto, "Sic juvat transcendere montes," made in memory of their trip.

A few years earlier a cousin of Dolly Dandridge, from her own home, the White House on the Pamunky, had been married to Colonel Washington, a gallant young officer lately elected to the House of Burgesses. A few years later Dolly Dandridge herself became the second wife of Patrick Henry, the cousin of Mary[20] Payne, a young lawyer of Hanover county, whose eloquence had electrified the House of Burgesses, and who was now its acknowledged leader in the fight against English taxation.

Patrick Henry.

Very slight seems the connection between these events and people and the little Quaker maiden, but it was through these, her mother's friends, that she was drawn in and became one of that choice circle of Virginia's honored children in the early days of the Republic.

Though born in North Carolina she was but one year old when her parents returned to their former home in Hanover county, Virginia, and in later years Dolly always preferred to call herself a Virginian, for it was around the old Scotch Town homestead that all her loving memories clustered. It was in Virginia, too, that she imbibed the early training that fitted her to become a graceful, tactful leader in the nation's social life. Generations of worthy ancestors had transmitted to her the instincts of a lady, a warm and loving heart, and an appreciation of true worth, traits that were to serve her well in after years.

[21]The grandfather, Josias Payne[1], gentleman, was the son of George Payne, justice and high-sheriff of Goochland, who was descended from one of "Virginia's Adventurers," a younger brother of Sir Robert Payne, M.P. from Huntingdonshire, England. Josias Payne had become the owner of thousands of acres of Virginia's richest land along the James river. He was a man of affairs, a vestryman, and a member of the House of Burgesses.

The English traveler Smythe has given a pleasing picture of the Virginia gentleman. "These in general have had a liberal education, possess enlightened understanding and a thorough knowledge of the world, that furnishes them with an ease and freedom of manners and conversation highly to their advantage in exterior, which no vicissitudes of fortune or place can divest them of, they being actually, according to my ideas, the most agreeable [22]and best companions, friends and neighbors that need be desired. The greater number of them keep their carriages and have handsome services of plate; but they all, without exception, have studs, as well as sets of elegant and beautiful horses."[2]

The picture, too, had ofttimes another side, for not all the gentlemen could afford to send their children to England to be educated, and men of "mean understandings" were sent to the House of Burgesses, and so trying were they to the nerves of Governor Spotswood that he cuttingly observes that "the grand ruling party in your House has not furnished chairmen of two of your standing committees who can spell English or write common-sense, as the grievances under their own handwriting will manifest."

Anne Fleming,[3] the wife of Josias [23]Payne, was the granddaughter of Sir Thomas Fleming of New Kent county, the second son of the Earl of Wigdon. From this worldly grandmother doubtless came the present of the jewelry treasured so long by the little Dolly during her school days, and safely hid in a tiny bag around her neck, until one sad day when it disappeared, on her way to school, never to be found again.

This same Anne Fleming was also said to be the wife of John Payne (a cousin of Josias). Surely his wife's name was also Anne, for an old court record shows that "Hampton and Sambo," negroes belonging to "John Payne, gentleman," were brought to trial in 1756 for "Prepairing[24] and administering Poysonous Medecines to Anne Payne," for which offence the said Hampton was declared guilty and sentenced to "be hanged by the neck till he be dead, and that he be afterwards cut in Quarters and his Quarters hung up at the Cross Roads." And his master was awarded the sum of £45, the "adjudged value of Hampton," according to law. The dark shadow of slavery was already gathering over the land, although scarcely perceived and yet unacknowledged by the great majority of the people.

In the vestry meetings the chief plant[25]ers became the veritable rulers of the adjacent neighborhood. "The care of the poor, the survey of estates, the correction of disorders, the tithe rates, and the maintenance of the church and minister" came within their province. As a justice the planter was one of five to preside at all trials of the negroes, they not being allowed a trial by jury, but on the agreement of the five they were freed or condemned and sentenced. Such tasks as these, with the oversight of his estate and his duties in the House of Burgesses, made the Virginia gentleman a busy man. Still, he never allowed his life to become a strenuous one, but found ample time for his pleasures and for his social duties. Fond of good living, he was unlike the Frenchman, who "feasts on radishes that he may wear a ribbon," for the Virginian "took his ease in homespun that he might dine on turtle and venison."

John Payne received the breeding of the Virginia gentleman of the old school, and grew to manhood possessing the charms of courtly manners and of fluent speech. The early Virginia records speak of him as "John Payne, junior." In 1763[26] he inherited a plantation on Little Bird Creek, of two hundred acres, "on which he was then living," from "John Payne, elder." To this tract his father added a gift of another two hundred acres, likewise on Little Bird Creek, and at his death (1785) willed him four hundred additional acres of rich bottom land in "the forks of the James," with the negroes "Peter, Ned and Bob."

To this early home he brought his girlish wife, beautiful Mary Coles. Mary Coles was the daughter of William Coles of "Coles Hill," Hanover county, a younger brother of John Coles,[4] of Richmond, Virginia, who had there as a merchant [27]amassed a fortune, and married Mary Winston.

William Coles came later to America from Enniscorthy, Ireland, and married Lucy, the sister of his brother's wife, then the widow of William Dabney, by whom she had one son, William. William and Lucy Winston Coles had three children: Walter; Lucy, who married her cousin Isaac Winston, and Mary, the wife of John Payne, and mother of Dolly Madison.

Lucy Winston came of a Quaker family that has, perhaps, furnished more men of note than any other in our country. Her father, Isaac Winston,[5] emigrant, was an able man of an old Yorkshire family that had settled in Wales. He, with several brothers, came to Virginia to escape the Quaker persecution in England, settling first in Henrico and afterwards in Hanover county, where he died in 1760, at an advanced age. He had acquired a large estate, and many negroes. What a gratification it would have been to the old man had he lived a few years longer and heard his wayward grandson, Patrick Henry, argue the "Parson's cause," or make his first great speech in the House of Burgesses. As it was he died thinking the young orator unworthy even of mention in his will, but for his sisters he carefully provided. To his granddaughters Lucy and Mary Coles he willed £45, to be paid to them when they came of age or married.

[28]

* Sally Coles Stevenson's letters from England have been recently published in the "Century Magazine." She was the sister of Edward Coles, Secretary of President Madison and second Governor of Illinois.

Isaac Winston's son William had wild blood in his veins, and was a great[29] hunter and beloved by the Indians in their western wilds, where he had a hunting lodge. The elder Wirt pronounced him an orator scarcely inferior to his nephew, Patrick Henry, who was said to have inherited his rare gift of eloquence from his Quaker ancestors. An old letter[6] from Albemarle county claims that it was to him more than to Washington that the credit of saving the day at the time of Braddock's defeat was due. The troops had refused to move farther, and Washington's remonstrances availed not, until William Winston sprang to the front and addressed them with such stirring eloquence that each one threw up his hand [30]and demanded to be led forward. Judge Edmund Winston, son of William Winston, read and practiced law with his cousin Patrick Henry, and the firm of Henry and Winston carried all before it. Patrick Henry died in 1799, and Judge Winston married his widow, "Dolly Dandridge," and died in 1813 in the "fifth score year of his age."

"Dolly Dandridge" died in 1831. "Cousin Dolly" she always was to her namesake, Dolly Madison.

Colonel William Byrd.

Colonel William Byrd of Westover, a polished gentleman and wit (but, alas! also a "spendthrift and gambler"), in his "Progress to the Mines" called on Sarah Syme,[7] then a widow, formerly "Sarah Winston, of a good old family." "This lady, suspecting I was some lover, put on a gravity which becomes a weed, [31]but as soon as she learned who I was brightened up into an unusual cheerfulness and serenity. She was a portly, handsome dame, of a lively, cheerful conversation, with much less reserve than most of her countrywomen. It became her very well, and set off her other agreeable qualities to advantage." "The courteous widow invited me to rest myself there that good day, and go to church with her, but I excused myself by telling her she would certainly spoil my devotions. Then she civilly entreated me to make her house my home whenever I visited my plantations, which made me bow low and thank her very kindly. She possessed a mild and benevolent disposition, undeviating probity, correct understanding and easy elocution." For his supper Colonel Byrd writes that he was served with a "broiled chicken" and a "bottle of honest port," and no doubt he came again!

Sarah Winston afterward married John Henry,[8] a man of Scotch ancestry and sterling worth, who for some time [32]represented his county of Hanover in the House of Burgesses, where later the three brothers, John Syme, and William and Patrick Henry, sat year after year.

The name of one more member of this family will occur in later pages:—William Campbell Preston, M.C. from South Carolina, the opponent of John C. Calhoun in "nullification days" (1832).

Other branches of the family furnished men of great ability, congressmen, senators, governors, warriors. To-day the United States Senate mourns the vacant seat of that "grand old man" Edmund Winston Pettus,[9] who died recently in his eighty-seventh year, the oldest man in public life in the United States, and Alabama loved him as a father.

The daughters of the family, too, inherited the ready flow of language, the quick wit and pleasing address characteristic of the family, and which, added to good looks, made them much sought in [33]marriage. In after years these same qualities made them worthy helpmates in smoothing out the social tangles of official life.

In an old letter found amongst some Quaker manuscripts from Virginia, bearing date of 1757, was found the statement that "Thomas Cole and William Cole have both made open confessions of truth." This William Cole, or Coles, was probably the husband of Lucy Winston, of whom a sweet picture in Quaker dress is preserved.

Soon after their marriage John and Mary Payne made application for membership with the Quakers of Cedar Creek, in which neighborhood they were then living, as shown by the minutes of Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting, dated 5th month 30th, 1764. In 11th month 30th, 1765, they were already settled in North Carolina. In 4th month, 1769, they with their three children were again living in Hanover county, Virginia. During these and the few following years three children who were probably theirs were buried at South River, "Mary, William and Ruth Paine."[34]

In 1775 Patrick Henry, the newly-appointed Governor of Virginia, sold his farm called "Scotch Town" to John Payne. It was considered a valuable tract of land, and a bargain when it came into the hands of Henry in 1771 for £600. It had been literally "Scotch Town" in earlier colonial days, the center of a Scotch settlement of which it was the "great house." Here John Payne brought his rapidly-increasing little family, but in its nineteen rooms there was room and to spare for them all, and for the guests who so often sought its hospitable shelter.

Scotch Town, Hanover County, Virginia. Photographed by Samuel M. Brosius.

This house, with its quaint hipped roof, is standing to-day, and it needs only a thatched covering, and the peaked dormer windows that were perhaps there in earlier days, to make it a typical old English cottage. The two great chimneys have been much changed. In olden times each served for the four rooms clustered about it, and from which it took generous corners. Above the great open fire-places were mantels of black marble, one of which was supported by white figures. These mantels and the three granite porticos, with their carved steps, were brought[35] from Scotland by Mr. Forsythe, the builder, as was also the brick for the lower half-story. The house, too, boasts a dungeon that may have been used for protection or for the punishment of offenders two hundred years ago, about which time its building dates. A broad hall ran through the house, and above either wide doorway the portico roof was supported by iron brackets. The back door opens on the old garden, where the box trees still flourish, but the ancient trees around the lawn are veterans hoary and maimed by the storms of many years.

Here Patrick Henry, already famous, lived, and Dolly Payne, a blue-eyed, merry little lassie, sat beside her mother in the family room, "the blue room," with its walnut wainscoting trimmed with pine, and solid walnut doors, and learned to sew and read. Scotch Town stands on high ground, and for miles around you can see an unbroken stretch of country. In colonial days about it were clustered numerous outbuildings, fine stables and the negro quarters, of which there is now no trace.

Happy days were spent here by the[36] little Dolly. Surely they had few cares for the little daughter so carefully guarded by "Mother Amy," her much-loved colored nurse; and there were other slaves to do her bidding. It was through them, doubtless, that she first heard the horrible story of the crime of "Negrofoot," now the name of the post-office on an adjoining plantation. The stranger naturally queries, Why Negrofoot? and is told the old story of an African slave, a cannibal, owned by a Mr. Jarman:—how, when the master and mistress were at church one day, he took the little two-year-old child from its nurse, killed it, and partly devoured it before its parents returned. The retribution was swift and terrible. A wild horse was brought, the slave tied to it, and the horse started on a mad run. Before it had ended, the slave, too, was dead. His body was then dismembered, and portions nailed up in different parts of the country. The foot put up here gave the name to Negrofoot-house, and to the post-office; and doubtless weird stories were told by the superstitious negroes, who shunned the scenes of the double crime.

Negrofoot House. Photographed by Samuel M. Brosius.

Coles Hill was but nine miles off,[37] one of those low story-and-a-half Virginia houses, built of frame, whose timbers were probably cut by the family servants. Two rooms, one on either side the wide hall, sufficed, with the broad porch, for summer living, and the quaint bedrooms peered out through dormer windows from the roof above. There were outbuildings, too, on the north and east sides, and a few cabins for the negroes. (The residence has long ago disappeared, and the land is owned by George Doswell).

It was but a pleasant drive from Scotch Town on a "First-day after meeting" for John and Mary Payne, and the children loved to gather around the dark-eyed young grandmother, whose Quaker cap would not quite conceal the stray curls that refused to be confined by its sheer crispness. To her Irish grandsire Dolly owed much. From him she had inherited a fine clear complexion, whose worth was appreciated by her mother, and guarded by the linen face-mask carefully sewed in place, and the long gloves always to be drawn on ere she dared venture into the sunshine, a preparation that must[38] have been trying indeed to the impatient little girl. Her Irish blood, too, had added warmth to her loving heart, and given her the quick wit and smooth tongue that caused her to be accused, in later days, of a "knowledge of the groves of Blarney."

On their return to Virginia John and Mary Payne both became zealous workers in the Society of Friends, or Quakers. John Payne was for many years clerk of Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting, while Mary Payne was from time to time clerk of the women's meeting. They were also "elders," and it is likely that John Payne became a "minister," for as early as 1773 we find he is reported as "desiring to visit friends in Amelia, and also at Pine Creek." In 1777 and 1779 "John Payne requests a certificate to attend North Carolina Yearly Meeting," then held at Old Neck, Perquimans county. For years, too, there is scarcely a committee appointed of which he is not a member, and the carefully-written pages of the record books, as clear and distinct as when first recorded, show that both he and his wife were beautiful penmen. In[39] Dolly's early signatures her last name is almost a facsimile of her mother's writing, but her spelling never equalled that of her parents for correctness. Papers like the following, signed by both John and Mary Payne, were of frequent occurrence.

"Whereas Milley Hutchings, Daughter of Strangeman Hutchings, of Goochland County, was Educated in the profession of us the people Call'd Quakers, but for want of living agreeable to the principles of Truth hath suffered herself to be Joined in marriage to a man of a different persuasion from us in matters of Faith, by an Hireling priest, contrary to the known rules of our discipline, therefore we think it our duty, for the clearing of our profession of such libertine persons, publickly to disown the said Milley from being a Member of our Society, untill she give satisfaction for her outgoing, which we desire she may be enabled to do. Signed in and on behalf of our Monthly Meeting held at Cedar Creek in Hanover County the

13th of 3^d m 1779 by
John Payne    Clerk
Mary Payne    Clerk[10]

Was it well that they could not see far into the future?[40]

The great problem of the Friends during these years, the one in which John Payne was most vitally interested, was the freeing of their negroes or "black people," as (when assembled in Yearly Meeting) they had gravely decided to call them. Years before, the Quakers had crossed the seas in search of civil and religious liberty, and while they believed in each man's "inalienable right" to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," they could not seek them by a resort to arms. In the Revolution they could take no part, but there was sufficient work for them at home. Before slavery, even in their own midst, could be abolished, the members of the legislature must be convinced, and new state laws framed. Of this work in the South, Thomas Nelson Page says: "The movement was largely owing in its inception to the efforts of the Quakers, who have devoted to peace those energies which others had given to war, and who have ever been moved by the Spirit to take the initiative in all action[41] which tends to the amelioration of the human race." In his own state he considered the "problem stupendous, but it was not despaired of. Many masters manumitted their slaves, the example being set by numbers of the same benevolent sect [Quakers] to which reference has been made."

Already in 1769 the members of Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting had been "unanimously agreed that something be done." The laws of Virginia threw many obstacles in their way, and it was not until the law passed in 1782 that the right of emancipation was given to the owners of slaves. For this tardy permission they could not wait, and Robert Pleasants[11] in [42]a letter dated "Curles,[12] 3d month 28th, 1777," wrote to the Governor, Patrick Henry, Jr., " ... It is in respect to slavery, of which thou art not altogether a stranger to mine, as well as some others of our Friends' sentiments; and perhaps, too, thou may have been informed that some of us, from a full conviction of the injustice, and apprehension of duty, have been induced to embrace the present favorable juncture when the Representatives of the people have nobly declared all men free, without any desire to offend, or thereby injure any person, to invest more of them with the same inestimable privilege. This I conceive was necessary to inform the governor...."

The Friends were tolerably sure of Patrick Henry's support, as in a letter to Edward Stabler in 1773 he said: "It would rejoice my very soul that every one of my fellow-beings was emancipated. We ought to lament and deplore the necessity of holding our fellow-men in bondage. Believe [43]me, I shall honor the Quakers for their notable efforts to abolish slavery."

P. Henry

In 1778 "The Meeting directs that the sum of 30/ be raised for the payment of a book purchased for the purpose of Recording manumissions. John Payne is appointed to record them, and when accomplished to deliver the originals into the care of Micajah Crew according to the direction of the Meeting."

The following manumission paper is one of twenty-one issued about this time by Thomas Pleasants, the intimate friend of John and Mary Payne, and is signed by them as witnesses.

MANUMISSION PAPER.[13]

[44]

I Thomas Pleasants of Goochland County in Virginia from mature deliberate consideration and the convictions of my own mind being fully persuaded that freedom is the natural birthright of all mankind and that no Law moral or divine has given me a right to or property in the persons of any of my fellow creatures, and being desirous to fulfil the injunction of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by doing to others as I would be done by. Do therefore declare that having under my care one negro woman named Betty aged about forty, I do for myself my Heirs Executors and administrators hereby release unto her the said Betty all my right Interest and claim or pretensions of claim whatsoever as to her person or to any Estate she may hereafter acquire without any interruption from me or any person claiming for by from or under me In WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 25^th day of the 1^st Month, one thousand and seven hundred and Eighty

Sealed and delivered
in presence of

Tho Pleasants (Seal) John Payne Mary Payne

John Payne likewise manumitted all his slaves before his removal to Philadelphia.

After the passage of the law of 1782 the Friends no longer hesitated, and their slaves, as far as permitted by law, were generally freed. At the same time their owners, who had thus made themselves obnoxious to their slave-owning neigh[45]bors, prepared to remove to a free state, the great majority to the west. John Payne had for some years been looking forward to a removal to Philadelphia, where his son Walter was already established in business.

Their movements about this time are definitely ascertained by a reference to the Quaker records:

Cedar Creek, 8 mo. 11, 1779—"By a report from Cedar Creek Preparative Meeting, it appears that Walter Payne has removed to Philadelphia. Micajah Terrel, James Hunnicutt, Moses Harris and Micajah Davis are appointed to prepare a certificate for him, and assign the same in behalf of the Monthly Meeting if nothing obstructs."

"On the 13th of 1st month, 1781, Mary Payne informed this meeting that she proposed in some short time a journey to Philadelphia, and requests a few lines certifying her right of membership with us."

Which certificate is directed to be drawn up and signed.

Elizabeth Drinker, wife of Henry Drinker, of Philadelphia, records in her diary:

1781, March 5—"Molly Payne spent y^e day, and lodged with us. She and son Walter breakfasted y^e 6th."

And finally the meeting records:

[46]

"On the 21st of Second Month, 1783, John Payne requests a certificate for himself and family to join themselves to Friends in Philadelphia. Micajah Crew and Moses Harris are appointed to make the necessary enquiry, and if nothing appears to hinder, produce one accordingly at next meeting."

This committee seems to have thought that John Payne could not properly discharge his duties as executor from the distant town of Philadelphia. Accordingly, at the next meeting, held the following month:

"James Crew is appointed to receive the estate of Elizabeth Elmore, deceased, from John Payne, executor, and give us account thereof at next meeting. Micajah Crew, James Jarvis and James Hunnicutt are appointed to assist him in devising the said Elizabeth Elmore's cloths and to give their advice and assistance in settling all other matters that may come before them, respecting the estate."

And as John Payne is about to remove without the verge of this Meeting, James Hunnicutt is therefore appointed clerk thereof in his stead."

It will be seen that this little community looked carefully after the various interests of its members. Their "temporal" as well as "spiritual" affairs were within its province, to advise and admonish as seemed best to them.

[47]The investigation having been entirely satisfactory otherwise, the following month a certificate of removal is granted from "Caeder Creek Monthly Meeting, held in Hanover county, Virginia, bearing date of 12th of 4th mo., 1783, for John and Mary Payn and their children: William Temple, Dolly, Isaac, Lucy, Anne, Mary and John," directed to the "Northern District Mo. Mtg. of Philadelphia."

The form of this certificate was probably like the following one drawn up by John Payne as clerk:

"To the Monthly Meeting held at Southriver.

Dear Friends:

"Our writing to you at this time is on account of David Terrill, who now resides within the verge of your Meeting, and requests our Certificate for himself and children. These may certify, that after the needful enquiry, we have cause to believe his affairs are settled to satisfaction. His life and conversation being in a good degree orderly whilst among us, we therefore recommend him, together with his children [namely: ....] to your Christian care, and with desires for their growth in the truth, we remain your friends and brethren.

"Signed on behalf of our Monthly Meeting held at Cedar Creek, 8 mo. 24th, 1781.

"John Payne, Clerk."

[48]And Elizabeth Drinker records again:

"1783, July 9.—John Payne's family came to reside in Philadelphia."

A year later when the young people had become friends she writes:

"1784, July 10.—Sally Drinker and Walter Payne, Billy Sansom and Polly Wells, Jacob Downing and Dolly Payne went to our place at Frankford," and

"1784, July 18.—Walter Payne went to Virginia."

"1785, Dec 26.—First day. This evening Walter Payne took leave of us, intending to set off early to-morrow morning for Virginia, and in a few weeks to embark there for Great Britain."

Of the family life at Scotch Town, Dolly has left us no record, but only the assurance that "the days were full of happiness."

The Marquis de Chastellux, a major-general under Rochambeau, in the Revolutionary Army, who wrote an account of his travels in Virginia in 1780-2, has, however, given us a picture of a country family of this time, and of one not far distant from Scotch Town. He visited the family of General Nelson at Offley, an "unpretentious country place in Hanover county," and says:[49]

"In the absence of the General, who had gone to Williamsburg, his mother and wife received us with all the politeness, ease and cordiality natural to his family. [It being bad weather] the company assembled either in the parlor or saloon, especially the men, from the hour of breakfast to that of bed-time, but the conversation was always agreeable and well supported. If you were desirous of diversifying the scene, there were some good French and English authors at hand.

An excellent breakfast at nine o'clock, a sumptuous dinner at two, tea and punch in the afternoon, and an elegant little supper, divided the day most happily for those whose stomachs were never unprepared."

The Pleasants and Winstons were their neighbors also, but the large estates, in a measure, isolated each family, which thus became a little community in itself, raising all necessary food, manufacturing all clothing and materials for clothing, and even, on the tidewater estates, exporting from their own wharves the great staple, tobacco, for which in return their few luxuries were brought to their very door.

With all his broad acres the Virginia gentleman had no great wealth at his command. It has been estimated that Colonel Byrd, who was perhaps their largest land-owner, was worth but $150,[50]000. Patrick Henry wrote to General Stevens (Stephens) that his father-in-law "owned one hundred and fifty slaves and four or five thousand acres of land, not counting some three thousand in Kentucky," but that from him his son, Captain Alexander Spotswood Dandridge, "could have no great expectations."

The families were large, and the land often had little real value, two dollars an acre being considered a good price. The best land in the near neighborhood of cities brought only from twenty to forty dollars per acre. There is a quaint record preserved in Goochland showing that William Randolph sold to Peter Jefferson (father of Thomas) two hundred acres for the consideration of "Henry Wetherburn's biggest bowl of arrack punch." Henry Wetherburn was the host of the famed Raleigh Tavern at Williamsburg.

The Dandridge Home.

Of the Revolution the family at Scotch Town saw but little, but its effects they felt; it could not be otherwise with Cornwall's great army stationed so near them. When General Wayne's troops marched through Hanover in June, 1781,[51] Captain John Davis notes in his diary that they "saw few houses, which were mostly situated far back from the roads, and very few people." On the 17th he wrote: "Marched at 3 o'clock through the best country I had seen in this state, twenty miles to Mr. Dandridge's."

De Chastellux says that Mr. Tilghman, the landlord of the Hanover Inn, lamented having had to board and lodge Cornwallis and his retinue without any return. "We set out the next morning at nine," he continued, "after having breakfasted much better than our horses, which had nothing but oats; the country being so destitute of forage that it was impossible to find a truss of hay, or a few leaves of Indian corn, though we sought it for two miles around. Three miles from Hanover we crossed the South Anna on a wooden bridge. On the left side of the river, the ground rises, and you mount a pretty high hill; the country is barren, and we travelled almost always in the woods," arriving at Offley at 1 o'clock.

His description of the country between Williamsburg and Hanover is more pleasing. "The country through which we[52] pass is one of the finest in lower Virginia. There are many well-cultivated estates and handsome houses." "We arrived before sunset and alighted at a tolerable handsome inn; a very large saloon and a covered portico are destined to receive the company who assemble every three months at the Courthouse[14] either on private or public affairs. This asylum is all the more necessary, as there are no other houses in the neighborhood. Travellers make use of these establishments, which are indispensable in a country so thinly inhabited that houses are often at the distance of two of three miles from each other."

Hanover Court House. Photographed by Samuel M. Brosius.

Susan Nelson, a loved friend of Dolly's, lived on New Found River, seven miles off; and he who would know the later history of this neighborhood has but to turn to the writings of her grandson, Thomas [53]Nelson Page, and at once, by the magic of his pen, he will be in "the old country," and its charm will tempt him to linger there and love its people.

Dolly's earliest school-days were spent in an "old field" log school-house near by, but she cared little for books, either then or later, but was a merry, loving little maiden, who was "pleasure-loving, saucy, bewitching." As she grew older, with her brothers Walter, Temple and Isaac, and perhaps the little Lucy, she attended the Quaker school at Cedar Creek meeting-house, near Brackett Post-office, but three miles distant. The meeting-house stood in a forest of pine and cedar that grew to its very doors, while close by ran the "clear, sweet water" of Cedar Creek. The house was an old colonial building, most of the materials for which were brought from England; and it stood on part of that tract of land granted by good King George. It consisted of eight hundred acres lying on both sides of Cedar Creek in St. Paul's parish, and was granted to Thomas Stanley, James Stanley and Thomas Stanley, Jr., for "divers good causes[54] and considerations, but more especially for and in consideration of the importation of sixteen persons to dwell within this our Colony of Virginia." "Witness our trusty and well-beloved Alexander Spottswood, Governor, at Williamsburg, under his seal of our Colony, this 16th day of December, 1714."

A few years ago the old meeting-house was destroyed in a forest fire.

The earlier records of the school have disappeared, but later ones tell that in 1791 Benjamin Bates, Jr.,[15] was teaching [55]reading, writing and English grammar for 30s per annum. But for mathematics a charge of £3 was made. Holidays were not thought so necessary for the welfare of teachers and pupils then, but they were allowed "two days of relaxation" each month, one of which was a "Seventh day" of the week; the other the "monthly meeting day." The long year had but three holidays. Two weeks were given at "Yearly Meeting time," and a half week was allowed for each "Quarterly meeting."

The school, however, was deservedly famous; its teacher was an able man, and scholars came to it from a distance. At this time there were few schools in Virginia.[16] In the long list of patrons are the [56]names of John and Mary Payne, although they had been many years in Philadelphia, (their share was marked as made over to "C. Moorman to pay"); Thomas Pleasants, of Beaver Dam; Robert Pleasants, of Curles; John Lynch, from Lynchburg; Judge Hugh Nelson, and others, all of whom were men of note in their own neighborhoods.

John Lynch and his brother Charles were the founders of Lynchburg. The name of Charles Lynch,[17] has become [57]famous as the originator of "Lynch law," yet it little represents the character of Lynch, who was a "brave pioneer, a righteous judge, a soldier and a statesman." His memory is "by no means deserving of oblivion, still less obloquy." "He was[58] but a simple Quaker gentleman, yet his name has come to stand for organized savagery."

[59]

CHAPTER II.

Marriage and Widowhood.

Three years after their removal to Philadelphia a certificate is issued transferring the membership of "John Payne and Mary, his wife, and their children, William Temple, Dorothy, Isaac, Lucy, Anne, Mary, John and Philadelphia to Pine Street Monthly Meeting." The Paynes settled in what was then the northern part of Philadelphia, and at first John Payne believed his means ample to live in the same hospitable way that had been his wont on the old Virginia plantation, but he soon found his expenses were increased much beyond his expectations, and decided, with the assistance of his sons, to start in business in Philadelphia. For this kind of life, however, his early training had not fitted him, and the business[60] venture was a complete failure. It was followed by his disownment from Pine Street meeting "for failure to pay his debts" (1789), and from this crushing blow the proud spirit of John Payne never recovered, and he died soon after.

It is interesting to know that the store of "John Payne, merchant," was on Fifth Street between Market and Arch, and his residence was 52 Arch Street.

Dolly in the meantime had developed into a charming woman, who entered into all the modest gaieties of the little town, where during the day the daughters of the family, simply dressed, did much of the household work, although even then "some" were so remiss as to "read novels and walk without business abroad."

When the daily tasks were finished the families gathered on the front porch, the girls dressed in plain stuff or chintz frocks with white aprons, and here the passing neighbors stopped to chat awhile or tarry longer. Everybody had a speaking acquaintance, at least, in this little Quaker town.[18]

[61]

It was probably in the fall of 1787 that two of Dolly's Virginia friends came to pass the winter in Philadelphia,—Deborah Pleasants,[19] the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Pleasants of Beaver Dam, who had been a friend and schoolmate at the old Cedar Creek School; and her cousin Elizabeth Brook,[20] then from Leesburg, Virginia, a Quaker settlement where the smaller plantations of from one hundred to three hundred acres were cultivated entirely by free labor.

The journey from Beaver Dam had been made on horseback, in easy stages, as there were many Friendly homes to stop at on the way, and the days spent in riding through the almost unbroken forests of Virginia pines and the fording of the rivers had been a delightful experience to the two girls, who, with their entire [62]outfit on their saddle pommels, finally drew rein in the quiet neighborhood of Brook Court, where the arrival of their little cavalcade caused an unwonted stir.

A happy winter followed, in which the three girls were much together, but when summer came "Deborah" and "Elizabeth" returned to their southern homes.

The following girlish letter[21] from Dolly Payne to Elizabeth Brook is undated, but must have been written about December, 1788, or later:

Philadelphia.

How much am I indebted to thee dearest Eliza For throwing off that formality so stifling To the growth of friendship! and addressing First her who feels herself attached to thee by Every sentement of her heart and she often In her "hours of visinary indulgence" calls to Recollection the two lov'd girls who rendered Her so happy during their too short stay in Philadelphia.

I should most gladly have offered you the Tribute of my tender remembrances long before This by the performance of my promise of Wrighting, but my ignorance of a single conveyance[22] was the only preventative.

[63]

Let this however, my D^r Betsy obliterate the Idea of my neglect occasion'd by my prospects Of happiness[23] for be assur'd that no sublunary Bliss whatever should have a tendency to make Me forgetful of friends I so highly value.

This place is almost void of anything novell, Such however as is in circulation I will endeavor To Recollect in order to communicate.—Susan Ward and thy old Admirer W. S. have pass'd Their last meeting & are on the point of Marriage. Sally Pleasants and Sam Fox[24] according to the Common saying are made one—Their wedding Was small on account of the death of a cousin, M. Roads. The Bride is now seting up in form For company. I have not been to visit her but Was informed by Joshua Gilpin[25] that he met 40 Their paying their respects, etc., etc.

A general exclamation among the old Friends Against such Parade—a number of other matches

[64]

Talked off but their unsertainty must apologize For my not nameing the partys——

A charming little girl of my acquaintance & A Quaker too ran off & was married to a Roman Catholic the other evening—thee may have seen Her, Sally Bartram was her name.

Betsy Wister[26] & Kitty Morris too plain girls Have eloped to effect a union with the choice of Their hearts so thee sees Love is no respecter Of persons——

The very respectful Compliments of Frazier Await the 2 Marylanders—Frazier that unfortunate youth whose heart followed thee captive to Thy home—do call to mind this said conquest Betsy—I see him every day & thee is often the Subject of our Tete-a-tetes—he says the darn in Thy apron first struck him & declares that he Would give any mony for that captivating badge Of thy industry.

After bloting my paper all ore with nonsense I must conclude with particular Love to Debby Pleasants when thee should see her & respects

[65]

To her brother James—write often & much to Thy affectionate

Correspondent

D Payne

Addressed to—
  Eliza Brooke Jun^r:
    Montgomery County
      Maryland

P^r Favour of }
Cap^t Lynn }

A later letter to Elizabeth Brooke[27] (from Sarah Parker) gives further news of Dolly Payne. After referring to rumors current regarding the approaching marriage of her friend she continues:

[66]

"It may be an encouragement, probably, should I inform thee of some old acquaintances jogging on in this antiquated Custom. Dolly Payne is likely to unite herself to a young man named J. Todd, who has been so solicitous to gain her favor many years, but disappointment for some time seem'd to assail his most sanguine expectations, however things have terminated agreeable to his desires & she now offers her hand to a person whose heart she had long been near and dear to—he has proved a constant Lover indeed & deserves the highest commendation for his generous behavior, as he plainly shows to the world no mercenary motives bias'd his judgment (on the contrary) a sincere attachment to her person was his first consideration else her Father's misfortunes might have been an excuse for his leaving her—they pass'd meeting[28] fourth day, was the same day George Fox[29] & Molly C. Pemberton were united, rather an uncommon instance, but their marriage was postponed on account of a relation's death.

"Pine Street meeting house was amazingly crowded, a number of gay folks—I heard a young man say he was surprised on viewing the galleries, as they had more the appearance of a play house than of Friends' meeting. There were great affronts given, I am told, when Dolly retired in the other room to pass by Nicholas Waln, rising and saying 'it was not customary for those that do not belong, unless near connections, to go into meetings of business'—but some were so rude as to press in without any kind of ceremony, very indecent behavior was too obvious to be unobserved, even by children."[30]

Pine Street Meeting-House.
Built 1751.

[67]

The "passing of meeting" was then a formidable proceeding. The intended groom, with a friend from the men's meeting, entered the women's side after the closing of the partitions, and taking the intended bride on his arm announced, first in one meeting and then in the other, that "we propose taking each other in marriage."

Many anecdotes are related of Nicholas Waln, who was a leading member of Pine Street meeting, and had been one of the shrewdest and wittiest lawyers of the Philadelphia bar. His words were very apt to hit the mark.

A month later, on Dolly's wedding day, at the head of the meeting (at Pine street) sat James Pemberton[31], "erect and [68]immovable, with his crossed hands resting on his gold-headed cane"; beside him "Nicholas Waln with his smile of sunshine," "Arthur Howell[32], with hat drawn low over his face," and "William Savery of the solemn silvery voice," and other ministers and elders of the meeting. The body of the meeting was composed of the solid Quaker element of the city, and the "gay folks" again crowded the galleries to their utmost capacity. After a short silence Dolly Payne and John Todd arose, and each repeated the solemn marriage ceremony of the Friends, each [69]signed the marriage certificate, and "John Todd of the city of Philadelphia, attorney-at-law, son of John Todd, of this city, and Mary his wife, and Dolly Payne, daughter of John Payne of the city aforesaid, and Mary his wife," were married, 1st mo. 7th, 1790.

MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE OF JOHN TODD AND DOLLY PAYNE.

Whereas John Todd of the city of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, attorney at law, son of John Todd of said city and Mary his wife, and Dolly Payne daughter of John Payne of the city aforesaid and Mary his wife having declared their intentions of marriage with each other before several Monthly Meetings of the people called Quakers held in Philadelphia aforesaid for the Southern District according to the good order used among them, and having consent of parents, their said proposals were allowed of by the said meeting. Now these are to certify whom it may concern that for the full accomplishing their said intentions this seventh day of the first month in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety, they the said John Todd and Dolly Payne appeared in a public meeting of the said people held at their meeting house in Philadelphia aforesaid and the said John Todd taking the said Dolly Payne by the hand did in a solemn manner openly declare that he took her the said Dolly Payne to be his wife, promising with Divine assistance to be unto her a loving and faithful husband until death should separate them. And[70] then in the same assembly the said Dolly Payne did in like manner declare that she took him the said John Todd to be her husband, promising with Divine assistance to be unto him a loving and faithful wife until death should separate them. And moreover they the said John Todd and Dolly Payne (she according to the custom of marriage assuming the name of her husband) did as a further confirmation thereof then and there to these presents set their hands. And we whose names are hereunto also subscribed being present at the solemnization of the said marriage and subscription have as witnesses thereof, set our hands the day and year above written.

John Todd.
Dolly Todd.

NAMES OF THOSE SIGNING THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE OF DOROTHY PAYNE & JOHN TODD

Edward Tilghman,
James Ash,
Owen Jones,
John Pemberton,
Thomas Clifford,
James Pemberton,
Samuel Pleasants,
Caleb Foulke,
William Savery,
James Cresson,
James Logan,
Benedt. Dorsey,
Samuel Clark,
John Parrish,
Thos. Harrison,
John Payne,
Mary Payne,
John Todd,
Mary Todd,
James Todd,
Alice Todd,
Lucy Payne,
Anna Payne,
Mary Payne,
Betsy Blau,
Thos. Poultney,
Stephen Burrows,
Mary Burrowes,
Sarah Waln,
Esther Fisher,
Saml. Coates,[71]
Arthur Howell,
John Elliott, Jr.,
Thos. Follet,
Caleb Atmore,
John Poultney,
Caspar W. Morris,
Zaccheus Collins,
Henry S. Drinker,
Chas. West, Jr.,
John Biddle,
Elijah Conrad,
Ebenezer Breed,
John E. Cresson,
Richard Johnson,
Geo. Roberts,
Benj. Chamberlain,
Abigail Drinker,
Maria Hodgdon,
Kitty Doughten,
Benjamin Morgan, Jr.,
Caleb Carmalt,
James Bringhurst,
Anthony Morris,
Griffith Evans,
Isaac Bartram,
Anna P. Pleasants,
Israel Pleasants,
Samuel Emlen, Jr.,
Nicholas Waln,
Samuel Emlen,
Owen Biddle,
Samuel Shaw,
Eliza Collins,
Anna Drinker,
Mary S. Pemberton,
Sarah Biddle,
Mary Shaw,
Abigail Parrish,
Susanna Jones,
Phebe Pemberton,
Sarah Parrish,
Mary Pleasants,
Elizabeth Dawson,
Mary Eddy,
Ann Marshall,
Sarah Ann Marshall,
Mary Drinker, Jr.,
Eliz. P. Dilworth

The short but happy married life of Dorothy Payne Todd was spent at 51 South Fourth street,[33] now Fourth and [72]Walnut streets, and here her sons, John Payne and William Temple Todd, were born.[34]

In 1793 that dread disease, the yellow fever,[35] raged in Philadelphia, and John Todd hastened to send his wife to a place of safety. She and her infant son, William Temple, three weeks old, were carried in a litter to Gray's Ferry, then well beyond the city's limits. John Todd himself returned to the city. His parents were first taken, and he, feeling himself stricken, hastened to Gray's Ferry for one last glance at his beloved wife. Dolly, in spite of his remonstrances, threw herself into his arms and pressed her lips to his. After days of unconsciousness she slowly recovered to find her husband and her infant son no more.

[73]

John Todd, Sr., left a will. To his son John he willed £500 and his watch; and to each of his grandsons, Payne and William Temple, he left £50.

John Todd, Jr.,[36] died October 24, 1793. To his wife he left the settlement of his "very small estate." His will had been made some time before his death, and said:

I give and devise all my estate, real and personal, to the Dear Wife of my Bosom, and first and only Woman upon whom my all and only affections were placed, Dolly Payne Todd, her heirs and assigns forever, trusting that as she proved an amiable and affectionate wife to her John she may prove an affectionate mother to my little Payne, and the sweet Babe with which she is now enceinte. My last prayer is may she educate him in the ways of Honesty, tho' he may be obliged to beg his Bread, remembering that will be better to him than a name and riches.—I appoint my dear wife executrix of this my will.

John Todd, Jr.

[74]

Inventory and Appraisement of the Goods & Chattels &c. late the property of John Todd, Jr.[37]

The estate of John Todd was more ample than his modest statements would[75] indicate. He left his wife that commodious dwelling of English red and black brick still standing at the corner of Fourth and Walnut streets, with stable on the grounds. The inventory of his effects shows that the house was well furnished. His library, too, was a good one, and with her "horse and chair" Dolly found herself more than comfortably provided for.

The moving of the national capital to Philadelphia had crowded the city to its utmost capacity, and homes were hard to find. Mary Payne had opened her doors,[38] and Aaron Burr, then Congressman, was fortunate to find boarding there.

Dolly was soon drawn into society, and her brilliant beauty and charming manners drew many admirers. James Madison requested to be introduced, and Dolly wrote her friend, Elizabeth Lee: "Thou must come to me, for Aaron Burr[39] is [76]going to bring the great little Madison to see me this evening." Dolly wore her mulberry-colored satin, and appeared a vision of beauty to him; and it was not his only visit. But it was the "first lady of the land" who finally brought things to a crisis. She sent for Dolly and asked, "What is this I hear about Madison and Mistress Todd?" and, when Dolly hid her blushing face, took her into her arms, and told her that she and "the President" approved, and wished to see her again happily married; "and Madison will make thee a good husband," she said.

In the summer of 1793 Lucy Payne had become the girlish bride of George Steptoe Washington,[40] the nephew and [77]ward of the President. She was but fi[78] [79] [80]fteen and he seventeen years old at the time, and they were now living at Harewood[41], near Harper's Ferry. "Harewood of pleasant memory and patriotic association," as an old writer has lovingly said. It was built on part of the Washington tract of land in 1756, by Colonel Samuel Washington, under the supervision of his brother George, and an old record states that for the hauling of the gray limestone of which it is built, from a nearby quarry, they paid one Shirley Smith "an acre of ground per team per day". The finer part of the woodwork, the pilasters, wainscoting and cornice, were all brought from "Old England" to Alexandria, and   [81]thence carted to Harewood, a long and toilsome journey.

Harewood from the garden.

Now the fair young mistress of Harewood begged that her sister should be married there, and so it was decided. Thomas Jefferson offered his coach for the journey, and taking her sister Anna, the little Payne and a maid, Dolly journeyed to that historic home, accompanied by Madison and mutual friends, riding and driving.

A week of the early fall time had been whiled away when they reached their journey's end, where great preparations were already being made for the festive occasion, for this was to be a "gay" wedding. Guests came from far and near. Francis Madison was there, and Harriet[42] Washington, and at the last moment "Light-Horse Harry Lee" came dashing up on "the very finest horse in all Virginia."[82]

And then in the handsome wainscoted parlor, James Madison and the winsome "Widow Todd" were married, September 15, 1794, by Dr. Balmaine, of Winchester, Va., a relative of James Madison.

Madison's present to his bride was a wondrous necklace of Byzantine mosaic[43] work, of temples and tombs and bridges, eleven pictures in all joined by delicate chains.

After much feasting and merry-making, in which the groom lost his ruffles of Mechlin lace, which were parted amongst the girlish guests as souvenirs, the bride and groom made their escape and drove away for the honeymoon.

Little record of the wedding is left, and there is no list of the guests present, as at that earlier and more stately, though unpretentious, wedding in the old Pine street meeting-house.

The Parlor, Harewood. (In which James and Dolly Madison were married.)

The following letter from Madison to his father describes the wedding journey:

[83]

Harewood, Oct 5, 1794.

Dear & Honor^d Sir:

I have detained Sam, by whom I send this, so much longer than I intended & you expected, that many apologies are due for the liberty. I hope it will be a sufficient one that I found him indispensable for a variety of little services, which I did not particularly take into view before I left Orange. These he can himself explain, & I therefore leave the task to him, proceeding to the history of what relates to myself. On my arrival here I was able to urge so many conveniences in hastening the event, which I solicited, that it took place on the 15^th ult. On the Friday following we set out, accompanied by Miss A. Payne & Miss Harriot Washington, on a visit to my sister Hite, where we arrived the next day, having stopped a night in Winchester with M^r Balmain. We had been a day or two only at Mr. Hite's before a slight indisposition, which my wife had felt for several days, ended in a regular ague & fever. The fits, tho succeeded by compleat intermission, were so severe that I thought it prudent to call in a physician from Winchester. Doc^r. Mackay not being in the way, Doc^r. Baldwin attended, and by a [——] administration of the Bark soon expelled the complaint. She has since recovered very fast, & I hope, notwithstanding a slight indisposition this morning which may be the effect of fatigue & change of weather, that its return is not in the least to be apprehended. We left Mr. Hite's the day before yesterday. Our time was passed there with great pleasure on our side & I hope with not less on the other. Our departure however was embittered by the loss sustained the night preceding by my sister, which[84] you will have an account of from Mr. H. by this opportunity. In about 8 or 10 days we expect to set out for Philadelphia, & your daughter-in-law begs you & my mother to accept her best & most respectful affections, which she means to express herself by an early opportunity. She wishes Fanny also to be sensible of the pleasure with which a correspondence with her would be carried on.

I was Friday at Mr. Hite's. He promises steadfastly to be with you in about a fortnight at farthest, & to do anything on his part requisite for a vigorous prosecution of the undertaking at Bernard's Ford.

I must ask the favor of my mother to make me a memorandum of the clothing to be obtained at M^r Dunbar's for the negroes, & of yourself to have it transmitted along with a list of other articles such as salt, iron, etc., which may [be] wanted for the winter's use. I heard with great satisfaction by Mr. Howard that her complaint, which appeared in so doubtful a character when I left her, had taken a turn that promised an early & I hope entire recovery. With my sincere prayers that perfect health & every other good may attend you both I

remain y^r affec^t son
J. Madison, Jr.

I called soon after I came into the neighborhood on Mrs. F. Hite, & found her & family well. I intend to repeat my visit if possible & to introduce her new relative to her[44].

[85]

The grave "elders" of the Friends' meeting had hesitated ere they drew up the letter of disownment against Lucy Payne,[45] now the wife of the nephew, namesake and ward of Washington. And now again, as was their custom, "Dolly" Madison[46] was "disowned because of her marriage" to one not a member of the Society. The many strangers drawn to Philadelphia by the establishment of the government there were causing sad havoc in their midst.

Returning to Philadelphia, Dolly threw herself into the gay life of the capital, of which she at once became one of [86]the chief ornaments. John Adams wrote to his wife from Philadelphia: "I dined yesterday with Madison. Mrs Madison is a fine woman, her sisters equally so. One of them is married to George Washington. The ladies, whose name is Payne, are of a Quaker family, one of North Carolina."

Her marriage to Madison opened up to her a larger and broader life, one for which, by nature, she was well fitted. In the past she had felt that her membership in the Society of Friends ofttimes debarred her from many innocent pleasures and advantages as well, and "her undue fondness for the things of this world," for which she had once been chided, added zest to her new surroundings.

Her father had died the year before her marriage, and other changes followed in quick succession. January 5, 1795, Elizabeth Drinker writes: "I heard this evening of the death of two of Molly Payne's sons, Temple and Isaac. The latter offended a man in Virginia, who some time afterward shot him with a pistol."

James Madison Dolly Madison Portraits by Gilbert Stuart. Reproduced by permission of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the owner of the paintings.

Her father's will was not proved until[87] 1796. He left his wife, Mary Payne, sole executrix. His property consisted chiefly of lands in West Virginia and Kentucky, and it probably had little value. (De Chastellux tells of meeting a young emigrant who had bought one thousand acres in Kentucky for fifty guineas.) George Walker, John Todd and Dolly Todd were witnesses. The two former were no longer living, and the record reads:

"This day appeared Dolly P. Maddison, of the State of Virginia, Gentlewoman, late Dolley P. Todd, who being one of the People called Quakers, and conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, Doth Solemnly affirm and declare," etc.

Lucy Washington and Anna Payne likewise made affirmation to their belief in their father's signature to the will.

Signatures of the three daughters who proved the will of John Payne in 1796.

[88]

CHAPTER III.

Washington and the White House.

When Jefferson became President, in 1801, Madison was made Secretary of State. The capital had been moved the year before to Washington, and the Madisons settled on F street, between 13th and 14th. From this time Dolly's history is well known. She became at once the center of the social life of the capital; all eyes were turned her way, and she soon won the hearts of the people.

Mary Payne, Dolly's younger sister, was married in 1800 to Congressman J. G. Jackson, of Virginia, and Anna Payne was married in 1804 to Senator Richard Cutts,[47] from Maine, then part of Massachusetts. With her three daughters in Washington, Mary Payne was soon ready to follow, and henceforth made her home with Dolly.

On June 4, 1805, Dolly writes: "Yesterday [89]we had brother George, Thornton and Laurence Washington to spend the day, and I enjoyed the sound of Virginia hilarity echoing through the house. George coughs incessantly, and looks thin and hoarse, but has no idea of dying."

Colonel Samuel Washington.

He died a few years later, when traveling with his servant in the south, and Lucy with her three boys came to live with the Madisons. Her great-grandson, John Augustine Washington, owns Harewood, where from the wall the portrait of Lucy Payne Washington smiles a welcome to the stranger, and in the old terraced garden[48] with its rare plants, the lilac hedge planted by her sister Dolly each springtime fills the air with fragrance.

Here also are the portraits of George Steptoe, and the "gay fox-loving squire," Samuel Washington, his father, the loving husband of five wives, who laid them [90]one by one in the little family burying plot near by, where now he himself and many of his descendants sleep the last sleep.

In 1807 a great grief came to Dolly in the loss of her beloved mother, who did not live to see her mistress of the White House. Mary Coles had been a belle and beauty during her girlhood.[49] At the home of her cousin, Colonel John Coles, of Enniscorthy,[50] in Albemarle county, she had met men who were destined for grave responsibilities in later years. John Coles and his son, Colonel John, who inherited this estate, entertained with lavish hospitality. They had a fine stock of horses, and for the hunting season such men as Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, Patrick Henry, Wirt, Edmunds, and many others, were guests here for weeks.

[91]

Shortly after her mother's death Dolly writes:

"Deep affliction, my dear friend, has for some time past arrested my pen! My beloved & tender Mother left us forever on the 20th of October last—She was in Virgi^a with my youngest sister when she died without suffering or regret. The loss is only ours, & for that only ought we her children to mourn.

Mr. Madison unites with me in best wishes & regard for you and yours.

D. P. Madison[51]."

The following unpublished letter[52] from James Madison to his brother-in-law, George Steptoe Washington, is interesting as giving an account of the early troubles with Great Britain that finally led to the War of 1812:

Washington, Dec^r 7, 1807.

Dear Sir

Having lately rec'd a few no^s of Cobbets[53] Register, I enclose them with a few newspapers of [92] our own for your amusement, by a winter's fire side.

The business with England has come to a stop there, and is to be transferred to this place. The British Gov^t. would not admit, even formally, into the case of the Chesapeake, a discussion of the general principal of impressments; and the inefficacy of any arrangement not embracing the whole subject, for placing the two countries in the relation of secure & permanent friendship, was thought to require a joint provision. It had been calculated with great confidence here that the offer authorized for putting an end to the general practice of G. B. was so favorable to her interest as well as so liberal in itself, that it would be instantly embraced, and that the great difficulty on the general subject being surmounted, the affair of the Chesapeake would be met on both sides with dispositions which would render it the more manageable. The different course insisted on will necessarily leave around the subject all the thorns which mutual pride and honor, wise and false, will have planted there; and even in case the parties shall succeed in removing this[93] ground of contest, the old one, on which a species of contest tending to rupture has been commenced, will remain. From the sensibility produced in this country by the British practice of taking seamen, and ours in greater number than their own, it can hardly be supposed that the practice will be tolerated after a refusal of the liberal & conciliatory substitute proposed on our part. Let us not however despair that things may take a better turn. If the new envoy brings as sincere disposition to remove obstacles to peace & harmony as he will find here, this cannot fail to be the case.

Inclosed are a few lines for Mr^s. Washington from her sister, to whom I beg you to offer my sincere affection.

With great esteem & regard I remain

D^r Sir yr. friend & bro^r
James Madison

Cap^t G. S. Washington

Benjamin H. Latrobe,[54] having been made architect of the capitol with the title of Surveyor of the Public Buildings, [94]removed his family to Washington in 1807. To him we owe the corn-stalk columns with capitals of ripened ears in the vestibule of the Capitol, which Mrs. Trollope declared the most beautiful things she had seen in primitive America. He[95] also designed the capitals of tobacco leaves and flowers crowning the columns in the vestibule of the old Senate Chamber, now the Supreme Court Room. He was likewise the architect of the St. John's Church.

At the beginning of Madison's administration, in 1809, Congress appropriated $6,000 towards furnishing the White House, of which work he had charge; and mirrors, china, household linen, knives and other necessaries were bought, as were also sofas, chairs and hangings, not forgetting a pianoforte, for $458, and a guitar, for $28.

The Madison coach was built by Fielding, of Philadelphia, at the modest price of $1,500. It was drawn by four horses.

Mrs. Latrobe and Dolly had soon become friends, as the following note[55] shows. It was written while James Madison was the Secretary of State:

To Mrs. Latrobe:

My dear friend: I have read your books with pleasure & return them with many thanks. I intended to have presented them myself yesterday, but could not get my carriage in time. I long to see you, & hope you will not fail to send [96] for the ride when you wish it, as I expect M^r. Latrobe has left you for Phil^a & that you will indulge low spirits. How is Lidia & the little ones? I have been sick for several days, & on this we shall have Doc^r Wistar of Phil^a to dine with us. He is an old friend, & I shall be gratified in having some account of our mutual acquaintances.

We have nothing new in this quarter except Mrs. Fulton[56] the Bride, who arrived from New York 3 days ago. She was a Miss Livingston, & perhaps known to you. Even with this elegant addition to the City I feel melancholy without knowing wherefore.

Can I send you anything? Can I do anything for you? If yes, will you still think of me with confidence & affection? I desire it from you if a faithful & tender friendship has favor in your eyes.

Adieu for the moment,

D P Madison

8^th July 1808.

At Madison's first inauguration Dolly wore buff-colored velvet and pearl ornaments, with a Paris turban with bird-of-Paradise plumes, and "looked and moved a queen." The inaugural ball was held at Long's Hotel, and about four hundred [97]people were present. The first "four hundred."

At the request of her husband she had laid aside her Quaker dress on her marriage. However, she clung to the Quaker ways, to its soft "thee" and "thou" that fell so pleasantly from her tongue, and even, in a measure, to its dress. During the eight years when, as wife of the Secretary of State, she and her sisters, Lucy and Anna, were often called on by Jefferson[57] to do the honors of the White House, she wore her "pretty Quaker cap." Indeed it was not until she came there as its mistress that she reluctantly laid it aside as "no longer suitable to her surroundings."

She has sometimes been accused of adhering less strictly to some of the more essential beliefs of Quakerism, for which her father had suffered so much.

Dolly was perhaps never a great woman, but she was infinitely better, a loving one. Her days were filled with

"Little nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love."

[98]

Her manner was irresistibly charming. Her memory of faces, her ready sympathy, delicate tact and Irish wit made her many admirers and friends, and her memory to-day is held in a loving remembrance such as is felt for no other one of the mistresses of the White House.

One of the most characteristic stories told of her was that about the two old ladies from a western town, who, after seeing the Capital, had stopped on a corner near the White House, reluctant to leave without first seeing the President's wife, whose fame in some ways exceeded his own. They finally made known their wishes to a passer-by, who, being one who had access to the White House, ushered them in, and laughingly told their wish to Dolly. She arose from the breakfast table and went quickly to them, surprising them by the simplicity of her appearance, being dressed in a plain gray stuff dress and white apron, with a white linen kerchief crossed on her breast. Gaining courage from her warm reception, one of the old ladies murmured, "If I could but go home and tell my daughters I had kissed you!" And the wish was scarcely[99] uttered until it was a reality for them both, and they departed with a story worth telling in their western home.

She was a notable housekeeper, too, after the hospitable ways of old Virginia, and looked well to the ways of her household, usually ere her guests had left their beds.

Any history of Dolly Madison seems incomplete without seeing her through Washington Irving's eyes. He attended a levee in 1811, then held from seven to ten o'clock, and writes:

"I was soon ushered into the blazing splendor of Mrs. Madison's drawing-room. Here I was most graciously received. I found a crowded collection of great and little men, of ugly old women and beautiful young ones, and in ten minutes was hand and glove with half the people in the assemblage. Mrs. Madison is a fine, portly, buxom dame, who has a smile and a pleasant word for everybody. Her sisters, Mrs. Cutts and Mrs. Washington, are like the two merry wives of Windsor, but as to Jemmy Madison—ah! poor Jemmy!—he is but a withered little apple-John."

On March 11, 1812, Lucy Payne Washington was married to Judge Thomas Todd, of the Supreme Court, a widower with five children, and went to live at Lexington, Kentucky. Although Dolly[100] missed her greatly, she wrote, "How wise Lucy is!" She had had many admirers, and these words were in recognition of the wisdom of her choice.

This was the first wedding to take place in the White House, but we have searched in vain to find any record of it in the papers of the day or elsewhere. It was probably a comparatively quiet affair, and unlike our recent weddings there.

Elizabeth Henry, sister of Patrick Henry, married General William Campbell. Her daughter, Sarah Campbell, married Francis Preston, and was the mother of the Hon. William Campbell Preston, of South Carolina, who in his journal describes a visit to the White House, when he was only eighteen.

"I and my conductor proceeded in the hack in utter silence. The appearance of the house and grounds was very grand. There was a multitude of carriages at the door. Many persons were going in and coming out, and especially many in grand regimentals. Upon entering the room there were fifteen or twenty persons. Mr. Madison turned toward us, and the General said, presenting me. 'My young kinsman, Mr. President, who has come to pay his respects to you and Mrs. Madison.' The President was a little man, with a powdered head, having an abstracted air and[101] a pale countenance. Around the room was a blaze of military men and naval officers in brilliant uniforms. The furniture of the room, with the brilliant mirrors, was very magnificent. While we stood Mrs. Madison entered, a tall, portly, elegant lady with a turban on her head and a book in her hand. She advanced straight to me, and extending her left hand said, 'Are you William Campbell Preston, son of my old friend and most beloved kinswoman, Sally Campbell?' I assented. She said, 'Sit down, my son; for you are my son, and I am the first person who ever saw you in this world.'"

Montpellier. The ancestral estate inherited by James Madison, in Orange County, Va. Courtesy of Mrs. du Pont.

After such a greeting, little wonder that his awkwardness and terror disappeared, and a "romantic admiration for this magnificent woman took its place."

One more glimpse of Dolly may be given here as we pass rapidly over these scenes, and also over the later ones at Montpellier,[58] whose chronicles have already been so well written, to linger awhile over her declining years ere taking leave forever. She herself has drawn this picture.

Ingersoll's history contains the following letter from "the lady who there, with [102]a spirit of gentle fortitude, presided." It was written to her sister Lucy, who was then visiting at Mount Vernon,[59] the home of General Washington, eighteen miles from the federal city.

Tuesday, Aug. 23d, 1814.

Dear Sister:

My husband left me yesterday morning to join General Winder. He inquired anxiously whether I had courage or firmness to remain in the President's house until his return on the morrow, or succeeding day; and on my assurance that I had no fear but for him and the success of our army, he left me, beseeching me to take care of myself, and of the cabinet papers, public and private. I have since received two dispatches from him, written with a pencil; but the last is alarming, because he desires I should be ready at a moment's warning to enter my carriage and leave the city; that the enemy seemed stronger than had been reported, and that it might happen that they would reach the city with intention to destroy it.... I am accordingly ready; I have pressed as many cabinet papers into trunks as will fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons for its transportation. I am determined not to go myself until I see Mr. Madison [103]safe, and he can accompany me—as I hear of much hostility towards him ... disaffection stalks arounds us.... My friends and acquaintances are all gone,—even Colonel C—with his hundred men, who were stationed as a guard in the enclosure.... French John (a faithful domestic), with his usual activity and resolution, offers to spike the cannon at the gates, and to lay a train of powder which would blow up the British should they enter the house. To the last proposition I positively object, without being able, however, to make him understand why all advantages in war may not be taken.

Wednesday morning, 12 o'clock.—Since sunrise I have been turning my spy-glass in every direction, and watching with unwearied anxiety, hoping to discern the approach of my dear husband and his friends; but alas, I can descry only groups of military wandering in all directions as if there was a lack of arms, or of spirit to fight for their own firesides!

3 o'clock.

Will you believe it, my sister? We have had a battle or skirmish near Bladensburg, and I am still here, within sound of the cannons! Mr. Madison comes not; may God protect him! Two messengers covered with dust come to bid me fly; but I wait for him.... At this late hour a wagon has been procured. I have had it filled with the plate and most valuable portable articles belonging to the house; whether it will reach its destination, the Bank of Maryland, or fall into the hands of British soldiery, events must determine.

[104]

August 24, 1814.

Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found too tedious for these perilous moments! I have ordered the frame to be broken, and the canvas taken out; it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York for safe keeping. And now, dear sister, I must leave this house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it, by filling up the road I am directed to take. When I shall again write you, or where I shall be to-morrow, I cannot tell!!

The gentlemen to whom Dolly entrusted the portrait of General Washington were Jacob Barker,[60] the Quaker banker, to whom the government was largely indebted for financial aid during the war of 1812, and Mr. De Peyster, of New York. Jacob Barker himself took it to a farmhouse near Montgomery courthouse, and later returned it to Dolly.[105]

The Declaration of Independence was saved by Josiah King,[61] an official from the State Department, who went to the place where it hung, and took it from its frame; and Dolly took him and his precious burden with her in her flight.

With Dolly went also Mr. Carrol and her servant "Sukey." They drove to Georgetown, a short distance beyond which she spent her first night of exile, (Salona Hall, the Smoot place). She, as well as Madison, was to feel that the "disaffection" and "hostility" were realities in the few following days during which they were banished from the capital, he in hiding and she in disguise, wandering from place to place.

The night of the burning of the capitol she and her companions were refused admittance to an inn and were, for a time, exposed to the fury of the tempest of rain and hurricane that, while it wrought havoc in the city, quenched the flames and drove the British troops in confusion before it.

Monroe says the President crossed the Potomac on the evening of the 24th, accompanied[106] by the Attorney-General and General Mason, and remained on the south side of the river, a few miles above the lower falls on the 25th.

On the morning of the 26th Madison, General Mason, Rush, Attorney-General, and others of his party rode to Brookville, Montgomery County, Md., intending to join General Winder, who had rallied his troops near the court house, where they spent the following night at the home of Caleb Bentley.

Madison sat most of the night on the porch in an old-fashioned desk chair, writing his dispatches. Sentries guarded the house, pacing to and fro around it. They found no enemies in this peaceful neighborhood, but ere morning came they had trampled under foot the garden flowers and vegetables of their hostess.

At daybreak (27th) a messenger arrived from the Secretary of State with the news of the evacuation of Washington, and the President and his party, joined by Monroe, Secretary of State, left soon afterward, arriving at Washington at 5 o'clock in the afternoon.[107]

Ingersoll's History of the War of 1812 contains the following reference:

"The night following came some compensation for such punishment, the last night of Madison's exile, and eve of his restoration to almost universal favor. It was spent in the family of Quaker hosts, strangers to him, and conscientious adversaries of all war, who with primitive hospitality welcomed friend Madison and entertained him and his outcast comrades in misfortunes with the kindest and most touching attentions. Refreshed by sweet repose under the Quaker roof they returned next day to Washington (the 27th)."

The unfortunate battle[62] of Bladensburg was long called by its contemporaries, "The Bladensburg Races!"[108]

After the burning of the Capitol, the White House being in ruins, Madison rented the Octagon House,[63] yet standing at the corner of New York avenue and 18th street, built by Colonel John Tayloe, 3d, in 1798, and then considered one of the finest houses in the country. It was built of brick with trimmings of Acquia Creek sandstone, on a triangular lot, with a circular tower in front, to which the fine Ionic portico with its delicate tracery leads. Once inside you notice the curved doors, sash and woodwork, and the perfect preservation of their shape; the quaint urn-like wood stoves in niches, and the rich, solid mahogany doors.

The Octagon House. Photographed by Samuel M. Brosius.

From a second hallway a handsome stairway winds upward to the third story. To the right of the entrance was the parlor,[109] with its fine mantel, designed by Condé, of London, with graceful figures in bas-relief, executed in a fine cement. Its estimated cost was sixteen hundred dollars.

Mantel in Octagon House. Photographed by Samuel M. Brosius.

During the burning of the city the French minister had moved into the house to save it from destruction, and had raised from its roof the white flag of the Bourbons; in this case a hastily-gathered sheet answered the purpose!

It was here that the glad tidings of peace were received, and here, in the circular room upstairs, the treaty of Ghent was signed. And when the soldiers came gladly marching home they stopped here to give volleys of cheers for Dolly, the most popular person in all the United States.

Detail of Madison China From The White House

[110]

CHAPTER IV.

Later Years.

Harriet Martineau has given us a pleasant picture of Montpellier, and life there in 1835.

"It was a sweet day of early spring. The patches of snow that were left under the fences and on the rising grounds were melting fast. The road was one continued slough up to the very portico of the house. The dwelling stands on a gentle eminence, and is neat and even handsome in exterior, with a flight of steps leading up to the portico.

A lawn and wood which must be pleasant in the summer stretches behind, and from the front there is a noble object on the horizon,—the mountain chain which traverses the state, and makes it eminent for its scenery. The shifting lights upon these blue mountains were a delightful refreshment to the eye, after so many weeks of city life as we had passed.

We were warmly welcomed by Mrs. Madison, and a niece, a young lady who was on a visit to her."

Mr. Madison discussed many subjects of mutual interest with Harriet Martineau during her two days' visit, and she afterwards wrote: "He appeared per[111]fectly well during my visit, and was a wonderful man of eighty-three."

Of the second day of her visit she writes:

"The whole of this day was spent like the last, except that we went over the house looking at the busts and prints, which gave an English air to the dwelling, which was otherwise wholly Virginian. During all our conversations one or another slave was perpetually coming to Mrs. Madison for the great bunch of keys; two or three more lounged about in the house, leaning against the door-posts or the corner of the sofa; and the attendance of others was no less indefatigable in my own apartments."

Harriet Martineau was much interested in slavery, and in discussing the subject with Madison he told her that all the bad she had heard about it was true, and he was "in despair in regard to slavery." As long as he was able he always superintended his own slaves, and had no overseer, and they were always well cared for. Another visitor at Montpellier had been greatly surprised to see the women, neatly dressed in bright calicoes, going to church; and when a shower came, to see the dozen umbrellas that were raised.

Madison, in speaking of the appalling[112] increase in their numbers, said that "one-third of his were under five years of age" (he had over one hundred), and that he had recently been obliged to sell part of his best land to support them, and also to sell some of his slaves. It does not seem to have occurred to him to free them, as both Washington and Jefferson had done by will.

Montpellier and most of the slaves were afterwards sold to pay the debts of Dolly's dissolute son.

Paul Jennings, Madison's faithful servant, bought his freedom from Dolly, and afterwards lived with Daniel Webster.

At the time of Dolly's death[64] her negro slaves were valued at two thousand dollars.

Madison was much interested in the Colonization Society. Of the National Society, founded in 1817, Bushrod Washington was president. Afterward there[113] was a State Colonization Society of Virginia organized, and of it John Marshall was president, and its vice-presidents were James Madison, James Monroe, James Pleasants, John Tyler, Hugh Nelson and others. These men all recognized the fact that "slavery proved the spring of woes innumerable," and hindered progress in the south.

Dolly Madison in later years. From Water-color by Mary Estelle Cutts. Courtesy of Miss Lucia B. Cutts.

Of Dolly, Harriet Martineau said:

"She is a strong-minded woman, fully capable of entering into her husband's occupations and cares, and there is little doubt that he owed much to her intellectual companionship, as well as to her ability in sustaining the outward dignity of his office. When I was her guest she was in excellent health and lively spirits, and I trust that, though she has lost the one great object of her life, she may yet find interests enough to occupy and cheer many years of honored age."

James Madison had died shortly after this visit on June 28, 1836. "Madison," said Paul Jennings, "was the best man who ever lived."

Madison was greatly indebted to his wife for the popularity of himself and his administration. This was brought about partly out of her wish to see him successful, but mainly by her kind and loving[114] thoughtfulness of others, and ready tact in smoothing over the rough places that were ofttimes apparent in the early days of the new government because of the friction caused by those, so widely differing in opinions, who must yet work together for the common good.

James G. Blaine said that "Mrs. Madison saved the administration of her husband, held him back from the extremes of Jeffersonism, and enabled him to escape from the terrible dilemma of the War of 1812. But for her, DeWitt Clinton would have been chosen President in 1812."

Payne Todd grew up to be a handsome young man, "the courtliest of all the cavaliers," during the early years of Madison's administration. His position put many advantages in his way, and opened the door to less profitable things. He was fêted and petted abroad, and received in the royal families of Europe. At St. Petersburg, he danced with the Czar's daughter; in France, the Count D'Orsay was his friend, and afterwards visited him at Montpellier.

Madison House, Washington, D. C., North View. Photographed by Samuel M. Brosius.

He came home to be only a grief to his[115] mother. For a time he was Monroe's secretary, but he did little serious work. His debts ate up all his property and hers as well. He never married. He outlived his mother, whom he dearly loved, but two years, died full of grief and unmourned, and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington. "His was a wasted life."

Madison House, Washington, D. C., West View. Photographed by Samuel M. Brosius.

Richard Cutts, who had been first senator, and then, for eleven years (1814-25), secretary of the Senate, was the owner of that valuable square adjoining Lafayette Square, where in 1822 he built, at the corner of Madison Place and H street, the gray mastic stuccoed house, now known as "Madison House," the property of the Cosmos Club. At that time it consisted of two stories, and was the only house on the square. This property Madison bought shortly before his death, and the last twelve years of Dolly's life were spent in this house, already endeared by many associations, as the home of her sister Anna.

It overlooked Lafayette Square with its fine trees, shrubbery and statuary, which years ago had been the "old apple orch[116]ard" of David Burns. In the new home, her niece Anna Payne, daughter of her brother John, who had settled in Kentucky, was her devoted adopted daughter and caretaker. Here her old friends rallied around her and she held court during her declining years.

The government bought from her the Madison Papers, thus adding considerably to her income. She was likewise granted the franking privilege and the Senate and House each voted her a seat in their chambers, an unusual mark of respect and appreciation.

Free D P Madison

Anna Payne was a bright fun-loving girl, and even the President did not escape her love of practical jokes. One first of April he accepted her invitation to dinner, only to be heartily laughed at on his arrival!

One winter, she writes her Aunt Lucy when they had tarried longer than usual in the country:—

"Nov. 13.—What a dull prospect!—no parties, no 'nothin'' for Christmas. My conscience! If[117] we stay here this winter we'll freeze! Ice this morning. Aunt will tell you as soon as she makes up her mind as to going or not going to Washington. We hear from the City very frequently;—everybody telling us 'Come Home.' I hope we may go:—it's a dear place."—

Lucy Payne outlived her second husband, and came back to live with her son, William Temple Washington, at "Meg Willis" near Harewood. She, too, lived to a good old age. Her only daughter, Madisonia, died young. Lucy Payne Todd is buried at Harewood.

The following letter giving glimpses of later days is treasured in her family:

June 30^th.

Beloved Sister:—

I received your answer to James' last, and forwarded it immediately. Enclosed I send a letter from Madisonia, and am glad to find she is doing so well. Mrs. Crittenden has returned some time from Philadelphia, and brought back her son, for whom she procured glasses to suit the eye upon which there was no operation performed. She has had a good many friends with her at different times, which has prevented my seeing her as much as I should otherwise have done in the manner I desired, which was alone. As soon, however, as Mrs. Ashley and her daughters (from St. Louis) leave, she will spend the day quietly with me, when we shall have a great deal of satisfactory conversation.

[118]

Yesterday the good people of Congress received another veto. Mr. Tyler is becoming more and more unpopular [torn] it is said he will soon decide himself a Loco-foco.

There was a rumor last night that he was shot, but we soon heard it was without foundation. The 4th of July will be handsomely celebrated, from the preparations going forward, and we shall be here, but not to witness much of it; for, exclusive of the melting mood (anticipated from past and present experience), it is the ton for the ladies to remain with closed doors during that day in Washington.

This evening our next-door neighbor has a dinner, but it is too warm for me to sit up in style, so I shall spend it sociably with one of Mrs. Pearson's daughters, who is a near and lovely little neighbor. Mary Cutts dines with Mrs. Tayloe; Richard has gone to the North, and Walter to the West on business.

Anna unites with me in love to you and all.

Ever and truly your affectionate sister.

D.

We purpose going home in a week or ten days, and fear it will not be in our power to visit you on the way, having been kept too long here on my unfinished business, and believing that the roads and the heat will be too much for me at this season. In more auspicious weather I hope to be with you.

To Mrs. Lucy P. Todd,
  "Meg Willis"
    near Charlestown,
      Jefferson County,
        Virginia.

[119]

James and Madisonia were Lucy Payne's children by her second husband. All her boys were educated abroad, being sent there when very young. Madisonia, the daughter, seems to have been at school.

This letter,[65] like so many of Dolly's, was undated. It has her frank mark upon it. It was probably written in June, 1842, when Tyler vetoed the tariff bill.

Plantation life, with its roomy surroundings, has given many finely developed characters. The oak, the chestnut and the tulip tree of the forest tower higher, because of close contact, perhaps, but in shape differ little from each other. Planted in the open, each one hastens to assume its natural form, and becomes symmetrical in a way with which the other cannot vie. So, too, is it with human life, in country and in city. Flaws there doubtless are in both, and our noblest characters ofttimes adorn themselves with some pet whimsicality or foible for which, like the dwellers of Cranford, they are even more dearly loved.

"Life is a gift from divine Love," says the new teaching, and "why divide it up[120] into little bits, and think that little by little we are using it up, and that soon we shall come to an end." "Ignore birthdays, which only carry suggestions of age and ugliness, and remember that life and goodness are immortal." Such doctrine as this could it have been spoken in Dolly's day, would doubtless have voiced her feelings, and been of greatest comfort. For birthdays she greatly preferred to forget, and was apt indeed, to do so. Why should the dear old lady have been reminded so often, of the many milestones past, and the very few ahead?

FROM THE COLLECTION OF SIMON GRATZ, PHILADELPHIA.

I often desire to see you when I cannot, but now there is a new reason for the liveliness of my wishes—it is to rectify the mistake of a moment, not "of a night." You enquired last evening if I was not one year older than your mother. I answered yes, when I ought to have said several—In truth I could then only remember my first acquaintance with that beloved relation, when all the world seemed young to us.—

She was about seventeen, and I turned of twenty—this was my calculation before I slept last night—and, being anxious to disavow the affection of curtailing some precious years, I will give you a copy of the notice of me in our family Bible, ... and having been all my life in the world, it gives me the advantage sometimes of[121] the nominal advance to eighty. I know you will excuse this little sally on your time because with all your other great qualities you have the most reasonable and indulgent temper.

Your friend and cos.,

Jan^y 29th 1839                  D. P. Madison.

To The Hon^ble W. C. Preston.

Darwin has said that a man's worth is best measured by the duration of his friendships. Dolly's friendships were life-long. She never allowed the friends of more recent date, no matter who they might be, to crowd into the background the friends of her youth. In the days of her prosperity, rich and poor were alike welcomed at her lavish board.

The little daughter of that early correspondent, Elizabeth Brooke (Ellicott), was treated to strawberries and cake, during informal visits at the White House. And she gave "Jimmie" no rest until he ordered the release of "Debby" Pleasants' (Stabler) son, when he was imprisoned because of conscientious scruples against bearing arms in the war of 1812.

In 1830 she wrote Elizabeth Brooke Ellicott, "it would give me great satisfaction to meet you both again, and sometimes the hope of doing so comes over my[122] mind." But this hope was probably never realized, as the years were leaving their impress on them all.

Philip E. Thomas, the first president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, another cousin, often called and talked about "old times;" and his daughter, Mary Thomas Wethered, in turn became a favorite visitor.

It was on the 24th day of May, 1844, that Prof. Morse was ready to make the final test of his electric magnetic recording telegraph, and the wires between Washington and Baltimore were finally completed. The Baltimore end was set up at the Mt. Clare shops of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Washington end in the Supreme Court room of the Capitol, where the many friends of the inventor had assembled to see the first message sent. He had promised his young friend, Miss Annie Ellsworth, that she should indite the first message over the wires. Her choice was the words of Scripture (Numbers 23: 23): "What hath God wrought."[66]

In Baltimore a little company were [123]likewise assembled to receive the message. It was received there and repeated back to Washington with entire success. Prof. Morse then turned to Dolly Madison, and asked if she wished to send a message, and a few moments later the first real message was flashed over the wires. Its wording was: "Message from Mrs. Madison. She sends her love to Mrs. Wethered." John Wethered was at this time representative in Congress, from Baltimore city.

St. John's Church, Washington, D. C.

The original printed slip of what is now called the "Dolly Madison message" is carefully preserved in the Thomas family, as is also that first copy of the message, "What hath God wrought." The return copy was given by Miss Ellsworth to General Seymour of Connecticut, and by him deposited in the Hartford Museum, as Miss Ellsworth was from Connecticut.

For years Dolly had attended the Episcopal church of St. John's, half a square from her house, of which her sister Anna had become a member. It was shortly before her death that its rector, Mr. Hawley, "persuaded her of her wish" to become a communicant, and she was accordingly baptized with considerable ceremony.

She lived to be eighty-one years old, and during her later years lived[124] much in the past, amongst the old friends, of whom her family knew nothing.

She died July 12th, 1849, and her funeral services were held in St. John's Church, the "Court Church" of Washington. They were those befitting a President's wife, and her remains were attended by the Government officials, and her many loving friends and admirers, to the Congressional Cemetery.

The Mayor, Honorable W. W. Seaton, called a special meeting of the City Council, and passed resolutions of respect.

The National Intelligencer of July 17, 1849, says: "The remains of the venerable relict of ex-president Madison, were removed from her late residence, Lafayette Square, to St. John's church, yesterday afternoon, at 4 o'clock. The rector of the church, Rev. Mr. Pyne, delivered an eloquent and just eulogy on the life and character of the deceased, which was listened to with deep interest by a dense congregation, including the President of the United States, the Cabinet officers, gentlemen of the army, the Mayor and[125] City Council, and many distinguished citizens and strangers." Her body was afterward[67] removed to Montpellier, where, after "life's fitful fever" the gift of sleep is hers.

Franklin Stove

[126]

INDEX

Adams, John, 67, 86

Adams, John Quincy, 77

"Alexandria", 77, 79, 80

Arnold, Benedict, 57

Ash, James, 70

Atmore, Caleb, 71


Baldwin, Dr., 83

Balmaine, Dr., 82

Barker, Jacob, 104

Bartram, Isaac, 71

Bartram, Sally, 64

Bates, Benjamin, Jr., 54

Benezet, 42

Bentley, Caleb, 106

Biddle, John, 71

Biddle, Owen, 71

Biddle, Sarah, 71

Bladensburg 103, 107

Blaine, James G., 114

Blau, Betsy, 70

Breed, Ebenezer, 71

Bringhurst, James, 71

Brook, Elisabeth, 61, 62

Brook, James and James, Jr., 61

Brooke, Eliza, Jr., 65

Brown, Mrs. Eugenia W. M., 91, 119

Burrows, Stephen, 70

Burrowes, Mary, 70

Burr, Aaron, 75

Burr, Theodosia, 75

Burns, David, 116

Burgesses, House of, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 29, 82, 57

Byrd, Col. William, 17, 30, 31, 49


Calhoun, John C., 32

Campbell, General William, 100

Campbell, Sarah, 100, 101

Carmalt, Caleb, 71

Carroll, Mr., 104, 105

Chamberlain, Benj., 71

Clark, Samuel, 70

Clay, Henry, 30

Clifford, Thomas, 70

Clinton, De Witt, 114

Coates, Samuel, 71

Cobbett, William (Peter Porcupine), 91

Cole, Thomas, 33

Cole (or Coles), William, 26, 27, 33

Coles, Col. John, 90

Coles, Edward, 26, 90

Coles, John, 26, 90

Coles, Lucy, 29

Coles, Major John, 26

Coles, Mary, 26, 29, 90

Coles, Walter, 27

Collins, Eliza, 71

Collins, Zaccheus, 71

Conrad, Elijah, 71

Cornwallis, 50, 51, 58, 90

Craik, Dr., 80

Cresson, James, 70

Cresson, John E., 71

Crew, James, 46

Crew, Micajah, 43, 46

Crittenden, Mrs., 117

Curles Plantation, 41, 42, 56

Cutts, Adele, 88

Cutts, Gen. R. D., 125

Cutts, Mary Payne, 99, 118

Cutts, Senator Richard, 88, 115


Dabney, Lucy and William, 27

Dandridge, Captain Alexander Spotswood, 50, 51

Dandridge, Dorothea Spotswood, 19, 30

Dandridge, Nathaniel West, 19

Davis, Captain John, 51

Davis, Micajah, 45

Dawson, Elizabeth, 71

de Chastellux, Marquis, 22, 48, 51, 87

De Peyster, Mr., 104

Dilworth, Eliz. P., 71

Dilworth, Mary, 63

Dinwiddie, Governor, 31

Dorsey, Benedt, 70

Doughten, Kitty, 71

Douglas, Stephen A., 88

D'Orsay, Count, 114

Downing, Jacob, 48

Dreer, Ferdinand J., 84, 91

Drinker, Abigail, 71

Drinker, Anna, 71

Drinker, Elizabeth, 45, 48

Drinker, Henry, 45, 68

Drinker, Henry S., 71

Drinker, Mary, Jr., 71

Drinker, Sally, 48

Dunbar, Mr., 84

du Pont, William, 101

D'Yrujo, Chevalier, 94


Eddy, Mary, 71

Edmunds, 90

Ellicott, Elizabeth Brooke, 121

Ellicott, George, 61

Elliott, John, Jr., 71

Ellsworth, Miss Annie, 122, 123

Elmore, Elizabeth, 46

Emlen, Samuel and Samuel, Jr., 71

Evans, Griffith, 71


Fisher, Esther, 70

Fitzhugh, Lucy Tyson, 62, 65, 95

Fleming, Anne, 22, 23

Fleming, Sir Thomas, 23

Follet, Thos., 71

Foulke, Caleb, 70

Fox, Elizabeth, 63, 66

Fox, George, 66

Fox, Joseph, 63, 66

Fox, Samuel Mickle, 63

Fulton, Harriet and Robert, 96


Georgetown, 105

Gilpin, Lydia Fisher, 63

Gilpin, Joshua and Thomas, 63

Goochland, 21, 50

Goochland County, 39, 48, 61

Greene, General Nathaniel, 58


Hanover County, Va., 17, 20, 26, 27, 32, 33, 39, 47, 48, 50

Harewood, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 117

Harris, Moses, 45, 46

Harrison, Thos., 70

Hawley, Mr., 123

Henry, Elizabeth, 100

Henry, John, 31

[127]Henry, Patrick, 19, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 42, 48, 49, 52, 90, 100

Henry, William, 32

Hite, Mr. and Mrs. F., 83, 84

Hodgdon, Maria, 71

Hopkinson, 93

Howard, Mr., 84

Howell, Arthur, 68, 71

Hunnicutt, James, 45, 46


Independence, Declaration of, 105

Ingersoll's History of the War of 1812, 101, 107

Irving, Washington, 99


Jackson, Congressman J. G., 88

Janney, Jno., 66

Jarman, Mr., 36

Jarvis, James, 46

Jefferson, Peter, 50

Jefferson, Thomas, 41, 50, 57, 72, 81, 88, 90, 97, 112

Jennings, Paul, 112, 113

Johnson, Richard, 71

Jones, Owen, 70

Jones, Susanna, 71


King, Josiah, 105

Kosciusko, General, 94


Latrobe, Benjamin H., 93, 94, 95, 96, 108

Lafayette, 81, 90

Lear, Tobias, 78

Lee, Elizabeth, 75

"Lee, Light Horse Harry", 81

Lee, Robert E., 58

Lewis, George, 76

Livingstone, Cornelia Schuyler, 96

Livingston, Walter, 96

Lloyd, Hannah and Mordecai, 67

Logan, James, 70

Lynch, Charles, 56, 57, 58

Lynch, John, 56

Lynch, Sarah Clark, 56

Lynn, Capt., 65


McKean, Chief Justice, 93

McKean, Elizabeth, 105

Mackay, Dr., 83

Madison, Francis, 81

Madison, Isaac, 53

Madison, James., 26, 75, 76, 81, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 91, 93, 99, 100, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 118, 124.

Madison, Lucy, 53

Madison, Temple, 53

Madison, Walter, 53

Manumission Paper, 43

Marriage Certificate of John Todd and Dolly Payne, 69

Marshall, Ann, 71

Marshall, John, 113

Marshall, Sarah Ann, 71

Martineau, Harriet, 110, 111, 113

Mason, General, 106

Monroe, James, 90, 105, 108, 113, 115

Monticello, 90

Montpellier, 101, 110, 111, 112, 114, 125

Moorman, C., 56

Morgan, Benjamin, Jr., 71

Morris, Anthony, 67, 71

Morris, Caspar W., 71

Morris, Kitty, 64

Morris, Robert, 72

Morse, Prof., 122, 123

Morton, Phebe, 67

Morton, Samuel, 67

Mt. Vernon, 72, 102


"Negrofoot", 36

Nelson, General, 48

Nelson, Hugh, 56, 113

Nelson, Susan, 52

New York, 93, 96, 104

North Carolina Yearly Meeting, 38


Octagon House, 108

Offley, 48, 51


Page, Thomas Nelson, 40, 52

Page, Thomas Walker, 24, 58

"Paine," Mary, Ruth and William, 33

Parker, Sarah, 65

Parrish, Abigail and Sarah, 71

Parrish, John, 70

Payne, Anne, 25, 59

Payne, Anna, 70, 81, 87, 88, 97, 115, 116, 123

Payne, Col. John, 21

Payne, Dorothy, 59, 69

Payne, George, 21, 89

Payne, Isaac, 86

Payne, John ("Jr."), 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 56, 59, 60, 69, 70, 87, 90, 116.

Payne, Josias, 21, 22

Payne, Lucy, 70, 71, 76, 85, 97

Payne, Mary, 18, 20, 27, 33, 37, 38, 39, 43, 44, 45, 47, 56, 59, 69, 70, 75, 86, 87, 88.

Payne, Miss A., 83

Payne, Philadelphia, 59

Payne, Sir Robert, M.P., 21

Payne, Walter, 18, 45, 48

Payne, William Temple, 59, 86

Pearson, Mrs., 118

Pemberton, 42

Pemberton, Charles, 66

Pemberton, Esther, 66

Pemberton, Israel, 67

Pemberton, James, 67, 68, 70

Pemberton, John, 68, 70

Pemberton, Mary ("Molly C."), 66

Pemberton, Mary S., 71

Pemberton, Phebe, 71

Pemberton, Rachel, 67

Pennsylvania Historical Society, 84, 91

Pettus, Edmund Winston, 32

Philadelphia, 26, 44, 45, 46, 56, 59, 61, 66, 67, 68, 69, 72, 73, 75, 78, 84, 85, 86, 91, 92, 94, 96, 102, 117, 120.

Philippe, Louis, 81

Pleasants, Anna P., 71

Pleasants, Deborah, 61, 62, 64

Pleasants, Elizabeth, 61

Pleasants, Israel, 71

Pleasants, James, 65, 113

Pleasants, John, 41

Pleasants, Mary, 63, 71

Pleasants, Robert, 41, 42, 56
[128]
Pleasants, Samuel, 63, 68, 70

Pleasants, Sarah, 63

Pleasants, Thomas, 43, 44, 56, 61

Poultney, John, 71

Poultney, Thos., 70

Preston, Francis, 100

Preston, Hon. William Campbell, 32, 100, 101, 121

Pyne, Rev. Mr., 124


Randolph, 90

Randolph, William, 50

Revere, Paul, 66

Revolution, 40, 48, 50, 57, 58

Richmond, Va., 26, 30, 52, 55, 57

Roads, M., 63

Roberts, Geo., 71

Roberts, Sally Logan, 26

Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 92, 93, 106


St. John's Church, Richmond, Va., 26, 41

St John's Church, Washington, D. C., 95, 123, 124

Sansom, Billy, 48

Savery, William, 68, 70

"Scotch Town", 20, 34, 35, 37, 48, 50

Seaton, Hon. W. W. (Mayor), 124

Seymour, General, of Connecticut, 123

Shaw, Mary and Samuel, 71

Smith, David, Mary, Sarah, 67

Spottswood, Alexander, 19, 22, 54

Stabler, Deborah (Pleasants), 61, 121

Stabler, Edward, 42

Stabler, William, 61

Stanley, James, Thomas and Thomas, Jr., 53

Stevens (Stephens) General, 50

Syme, John, 31, 32

Syme, Sarah, 30


Talbot, Charles, 23

Tayloe, Colonel John, 108, 118

Temple, Anne, 47

Temple, Dolley, 19, 47

Temple, Isaac, John, Lucy, Mary, 47

Temple, Wm., 19, 47

Terrell, Micajah, 45

Terrill, Anne, 56

Terrill, David, 47

Thomas, Philip E., 122

Thornton, Dr. William, 108

Tilghman, Edward, 70

Tilghman, Mr., 51

Todd, Alice, 70

Todd, James, 70, 119

Todd, John, Jr., 63, 65, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 87

Todd, John Payne, 72, 73, 114

Todd, John, Sr., 71, 73

Todd, Judge Thomas, 99

Todd, Lucy (Payne) (Washington), 100, 102, 117, 119

Todd, Madisonia, 117, 119

Todd, Mary, 70, 73

Todd, William Temple, 72, 73

Trollope, Mrs., 94

Tyler, John, 113, 118, 119


Virginia, 18, 20, 21, 25, 33, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 48, 49, 51, 54, 55, 56, 59, 61, 68, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 94, 99, 116.


Walker, George, 87

Waln, Nicholas, 66, 67, 68, 71

Waln, Sarah, 70

Ward, Susan, 63

Washington, Bushrod, 76, 102, 112

Washington, Col. Samuel, 80

Washington, D. C., 88, 91, 94, 106, 107, 108, 118, 122, 123

Washington, George, 19, 29, 41, 76, 77, 78, 80, 85, 86, 100, 102, 104, 112.

Washington, George Steptoe, 76, 77, 78, 81, 89, 91, 93

Washington, Harriet, 81, 83

Washington, John Augustine, 81, 102

Washington, Lawrence, 78, 89

Washington, Lucy (Payne), 81, 85, 87, 89, 91, 98, 99

Washington, Martha, 89

Washington, Samuel, 76, 81, 89

Washington, Thornton, 89

Washington, William Augustine, 76

Washington, William Temple, 117

Wayne, General, 50

Webster, Daniel, 112

Wells, Polly, 48

West, Chas., Jr., 71

Wetherburn, Henry, 50

Wethered, John, 123

Wethered, Mary Thomas, 122, 123

White House, 90, 95, 98, 100, 108, 121

Wigdon, Earl of, 23

Williams, General George R., 88

Winder, General, 102, 106

Winston, Isaac, 27, 28, 29

Winston, Judge Edmund, 30

Winston, Lucy, 27, 33

Winston, Mary, 26, 27

Winston, Sarah, 30, 31

Winston, William, 29, 30

Wirt, William, 56, 90

Wistar, Dr., 96

Wister, Betsy, 64

Wister, Sally, 64

James Madison's Cloak-Clasp